Drawing Pumpkin Faces Made Easy!

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Drawing pumpkin faces is a fantastic way to get into the Halloween spirit. And so, take a look at this lesson -- here you'll explore some different ways to create your very own jack o lanterns, either on paper... or for real!

Now, as you're working through this lesson, keep in mind that it's YOUR OWN pumpkin faces that your drawing here. So definitely use my examples, but at the same time - branch off to come up with your own ideas.

And one more thing too, before you get started. These drawings can of course be applied to carving an actual pumpkin. In fact, I recommend you sketch out the designs directly on a pumpkin. But remember... please be careful if you're using a knife! Better yet - get one of those safety knives, the ones with the cute little pumpkin handles! :-)

Alright then, let's get drawing pumpkin faces!...

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First Step - A Guideline for Drawing Pumpkin Faces

To begin, go ahead and sketch out a nice, simple guideline - just like the one you see in the example. If you're sketching your design directly onto a pumpkin, you can omit the circle as the pumpkin itself already forms one!

The cross is the most essential part as divides the face into four equal and opposite quadrants, allowing you to carefully map out and sketch in the eyes, nose, mouth, etc. Tip: use some sort of 'marking' that will clean off easily if you're drawing directly onto your pumpkin.

All set then? Great! Let's draw some pumpkin faces!...

And Then... Explore Different Ideas for Drawing Pumpkin Faces

Well, now that you've got a simple framework to work with. And whether your creating your own decorations on paper, or carving actual pumpkin faces for a jack o lantern, this guideline will aid you in maintaining proportion and symmetry as you move forward.

Alright - time to begin! Have a look at the examples below. There are seven different 3-step examples as to how you may want to go about drawing pumpkin faces. Again, do use the examples to help you - but ultimately... come up with your own original ideas for creating unique pumpkin faces.

Here's the first one...

In this case - a very simple method for drawing pumpkin faces. The triangle eyes and nose are easy to draw or carve. This style is actually pretty common. Remember, play around with the design so that it suits your taste. Smaller eyes, bigger mouth, etc.

Here, start off by drawing circles or ovals. Then, draw or cut into the circles to create either pupils or teeth. Actually - you can use this method for drawing other parts too. Nostrils perhaps?

With this pumpkin face drawing, I went for the 'robotic' look. Amazingly, using only rectangles, you can come up with all sorts of really cool designs for your jack o lantern. Give it a shot... see if you can switch the shapes around to form an entirely new face!

Again, creating pupils by drawing or cutting into the eye makes for a neat looking pumpkin face. Drawing a pumpkin face with a big mouth like this one is cool as it makes for a great view of the candle, soon to be put inside!

Want to create 'demonic' looking pumpkin faces? Well, if so - ensure that your pencil strokes are sharp and angular just as the lines are in this example. Play around with the design. If you like, give your jack o lantern some horns. How? Simply cut out a couple horn-like shapes where the ears would go. Then, stick them back into the pumpkin's head so that they're jutting out to look like actual horns. Pretty neat effect!

Sad and cute, in this drawing, the pumpkin has big eyes and a small little mouth. Here, I've taken the eyes a step further by drawing/carving out two small circular sections. It's tricky if you're carving you're pumpkin face, but with a little patience, it's totally doable. Be sure to take your time. And while you're at it... think of some other instances where this technique may come in handy.

In the final example, I've added a few extras - different from the other pumpkin faces above. The lines under the pupils are meant to be toothpicks. They can be helpful for holding 'floating' pieces of your pumpkin face in place.

Something else to note... check out the tongue. See how I've ever-so-carefully drawn/cut in and around it. It's still connected to the main part of the pumpkin, but just barely. Oh, and one other thing too. The teeth! You can cut away the outer orange part of your pumpkin face to reveal a creamy-colored layer underneath. Be creative and see how you can use this technique to give off some white color in your pumpkin faces.

Colored and 'lit'... here's what the seven pumpkin faces from above look like when completed as actual jack o lanterns...

As you well know after exploring some of the other drawing lessons on the site, there's an infinite number of different ways for drawing pumpkin faces - or any faces for that matter. Hopefully, the above examples sparked some new ideas - ones that will be helpful for creating Halloween decorations and jack o lanterns!

Well, I hope you enjoyed drawing these different pumpkin faces. Best of luck with your own creations and of course, Happy Halloween! :-)